Experts of the Built Environment has called for reforms by all stakeholders in the local construction Industry to ensure the growth of the sector and to better position it to meet global trends. The demand for change is in view of current challenges being faced by the industry, which came to light when stakeholders converged at the 1st National Construction Summit organised and hosted by the College of Art and Built Environment (CABE) of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) and the Ghana Institute of Construction.
The Summit had the OCADS Consult Limited, Ministries of Works and Housing, Roads and Highways, Trade and Industry and Science, Technology and Innovation as collaborators with support from the Social Security and National Insurance Trust.
The two-day Summit is themed: “60 Years of the Ghanaian Construction Industry: Uniting for Industrialisation”. Opening the Summit, Professor Joshua Ayarkwah, Provost of CABE, stated that the construction industry in Ghana is at the heart of the transformation agenda of the country and has become imperative that due to the widening infrastructure gap facing the country. This and other reasons he said underscore the significance of the Summit.
He further said invariably, construction is a key contributor to the socioeconomic development of the country and the Ghanaian construction industry has over the years partnered other stakeholders in finance, insurance, energy, construction and consulting, plant and equipment supply, real estate, government agencies, research institutions, professional bodies, construction associations and others for the growth of the country.
According to Professor Ayarkwah, over the years, vital socioeconomic projects such as roads, schools, hospitals, water and sanitation, shelter, offices among others have all been realised through the efforts of the Ghanaian construction industry. However, while recognisning the positive contributions of the industry, it is saddled with some challenges which need serious attention and solution. The problems, he indicated are lack of adequate funds for projects, prevalence of foreign contractors, unavailability of jobs, complex payment procedures of government, unfair competition due to political interferences and others. Though stakeholders over the years had come up with several initiatives and solutions to these challenges, not much has been achieved.
It is in the light of these deficiencies and others that the Summit is being held to provide a platform for deliberations, sharing of ideas and experiences and to find possible solutions. He said it is important that policy makers, government officials and the private sector join the main actors in construction on this platform to continue to strive for the realisation of its goals.
Reverend Professor Charles Ansah, Pro Vice-Chancellor and Chairman for the occasion, stated that it was laudable for practitioners to come together to deliberate on issues affecting the industry in the premier training hub of these practitioners. According to him, the Construction industry plays a key role in the socio-economic development of the country and in the last two years has seen about 70% growth, providing employment to about 320,000 people in the country.
Reverend Prof. Ansah continued that in spite of this growth, Ghana continue to experience visible infrastructure deficit with most contractors having no professional or technical knowledge and no project management skills. Some industry players, he said also use substandard materials and others experiencing high cost of construction. According to him, these and others are enough reasons as well as grounds to call for collaborative efforts to improve industry.
Rev. Professor Ansah noted that though there are several products of KNUST in the construction industry, the country continues to witness abysmal projects, coupled with numerous challenges such as the non-existence of a regulatory body and advocated for the establishment of an umbrella council for the regulation of the industry to ensure a united front. He hoped the outcome of the Summit would bring about the needed changes to better position the local industry for development.
Mr. Samuel Atuobi Twum, Deputy General Manager Investment and Infraustructure of the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT), in his presentation on “Past and Present Situational Analysis of the Ghanaian Construction Industry: SSNIT Perspective,” said the local construction scene has seen great strides, with increasing participation of foreign contractors especially when it involves foreign donors.
Mr. Atuobi Twum, said SSNIT has not played much role in the national infraustructure but had contributed immensely to the housing sector dating back as far as 1970 in residential accommodation and increasing in 1980 by 7,000 housing units. He noted that his outfit also committed funds into real estate to provide 35,000 housing units from the year 2000 by taking over the Government of Ghana’s Affordable Housing project sites at Asokore Mampong and Borteyman. Again, it has over the years built 4,500 capacity bed hostels for institutions in Kumasi, Winneba, and Cape Coast in addition to Hospitals, Hotels, Community Markets, Malls, Trust Assets namely Trust Towers, Heritage Towers, the World Trade Centre, SSNIT Emporium, Car Parks, among others.
He added that there are challenges regarding Ghana’s land tenure system, obsolete building code and national building regulation, high property rate, contractor financing, high cost of imported building materials, the among others. He bemoaned how banks established to support the construction industry are no more while the Ghana Construction Fund has also collapsed within a year of its establishment.
Mr. Atuobi Twum called for proper regulation and standardisation to ensure quality standards in construction materials, improvement in land administration and called on real estate developers and security agencies to intensify their activities to rid off “land guards”. He further called for the use of local materials and funding for local contractors and practitioners to reduce construction cost. He also called on government to come up with standard and proper classification of properties to prevent Municipal and District Assemblies from abusing property rates.
Mr. Atuobi was hopeful that the establishment of a Construction Development Authority to over see the construction industry would help provide strategic direction and regulation as well as formulate regulations and codes to guide the practice. According to him, the Construction Development Authority would register and classify contractors and consulting enterprises linked to the construction industry.
In a speech read on his behalf, Mr. Yaw Osafo-Maafo, the Senior Minister, commended the efforts of CABE and the University for their continuous contributions to the construction sector and the development of the country. Mr. Osafo-Maafo noted that at the moment, construction in Ghana is dominated by designs which are not necessarily suitable for our tropical climate. He continued that these buildings are constructed with materials that are largely imported, which make the buildings expensive to construct and more expensive to maintain.
The Senior Minister therefore called on construction professionals to use designs that reflect our climate and to use local materials in construction to reduce cost, save the country foreign exchange in order to encourage affordable housing and to support the President’s vision of a “Ghana beyond Aid”.